jprolley wrote:really hated it when bylsma didn't call his timeout with 1:25 left with a defensive zone faceoff after that bad shift by the top line. instead, he puts out kennedy dupuis and sutter and promptly turn it over after crossing the blue line. game over.

dixonyy18 wrote:This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

So you're saying it's just one game?

They're not going anywhere because they give up too many goals. They'll have some regular season success playing Capitals hockey but they're going to get embarrassed in the playoffs again. The only thing that will change that if somehow they replace Bylsma or somehow Shero makes some miracle moves to find the magic mix of players. They're a mess of a team that can win by outscoring teams because few teams can typically keep up with their offense.

You can bring in whoever you want to play better defense, but when the system you play isn't optimal for playing great defense, then it won't matter. Bylsma wants this team to play a very up tempo offensive game where the defense plays aggressive all over the ice.

We are 12th in the league in hits. During the two Cup runs we were top 5. Getting further and further away from grinding, cycling, and being in your face/hard to play against. Hard to imagine when so many of our forwards are "checkers/grinders" on paper.

dixonyy18 wrote:This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

So you're saying it's just one game? :face:

They're not going anywhere because they give up too many goals. They'll have some regular season success playing Capitals hockey but they're going to get embarrassed in the playoffs again. The only thing that will change that if somehow they replace Bylsma or somehow Shero makes some miracle moves to find the magic mix of players. They're a mess of a team that can win by outscoring teams because few teams can typically keep up with their offense.

Exactly my point, ridiculous. They give up 2.5 goals a game, ranking 12. You mean this team can't score 3 goals? You must watch only the losses because when they win 3 or 4-1or 2 they look pretty good. But obviously they need to go undefeated to be a good team now.

has robert bortuzzo out played him? no, I don't think so. seriously. Despres, if allowed to join the varsity, has the shot to the net.

The problem is it's ALWAYS going to be either Despres for Bortuzzo, and vice versa. When a guy like Niskanen has a crap game tonight, will he sit for Despres, who is a perfectly viable option alongside Letang? Of course not. When he comes back in, it'll be for Bort, whom I actually thought was one of our best D-man tonight.

There's just no accountability, which is why you see the Pens taking so many undisciplined penalties.

The U wrote:We are 12th in the league in hits. During the two Cup runs we were top 5. Getting further and further away from grinding, cycling, and being in your face/hard to play against. Hard to imagine when so many of our forwards are "checkers/grinders" on paper.

This is the biggest reason we struggle against teams that sit back and "clog the neutral zone." Need to be able to dump the puck and grind it out.

But I was impressed by the Pens attempt at a comeback, likewise with their effort in the last minute of play. Haven't seen much of that since 2009. Without that burning desire, the Pens will go nowhere. Nice to see a glimmer of it here and in the Philly game. But obviously, still need to work out some kinks...

Let the frustration burn. It will build into a will to succeed against any odds, to never be defeated. For every time you are knocked back down, you stand up again and fight. Fight till the bitter end.

Lt. Dish wrote:I know you can't win the all, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to bed annoyed as hell.

See ya, folks.

Again, it's not THAT we lost, it's HOW we lost

I'm with you, Mr. Colby. That's why I'm annoyed.

Hey...totally off-topic: How's the new job been going?

It's been great actually... really busy though, but I'm happy to say I don't dread getting up and going... I'm the kind of person that gets really invested in whatever it is that I'm doing though so that helps a lot.

Love all the armchair coaches on here thinking they have the answer and that it's ALWAYS Bylsma's fault. OK, Einsteins, who do you want to replace him? Hmmmmmm?? As I tried to contend til I was blue in the face during the Flyers game, you can't just bench players who take dumb penalties. If you did, we'd all be howling about why Kunitz or Neal or Letang or whoever was a healthy scratch and the Pens went on to lose. The accountability has to come from the players themselves. At some point, the C has to step up and curse some people out for being stupid. That parade to the penalty box tonight was embarrassing. But...as we all seem to know, it's Bylsma's fault :eyeroll:

And someone had better get Vokoun a slumpbuster....or some swim fins. He's fighting it right now and his butt is on the ice more than a 4-year-old learning to skate for the first time.

I wonder if any of those 17th round picks we got for michalek know how to block shots.

This is why I question the value of having a PK specialist (Adams) dress every night. Look what happened last postseason. Not only is the PK not working but you are throwing away that spot on linev4 since he has no value 5-on-5. The 4th line has actually been solid this year but come playoff time you could upgrade there with some size/speed.

The U wrote:We are 12th in the league in hits. During the two Cup runs we were top 5. Getting further and further away from grinding, cycling, and being in your face/hard to play against. Hard to imagine when so many of our forwards are "checkers/grinders" on paper.

Agreed. I'm not sure what Tanner Glass was supposed to be, and I guess he isn't horrible, but I'm just not that impressed with him. Give me old Matt Cooke I guess. I'm not even sure what I'm writing as this point.

dixonyy18 wrote:This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

I kind of disagree. We win a lot of games with skill, like Neal with a sick shot from the slot. But at the same time we have last year MVP and a top 3 goal scorer on our second line and they can't do squat even strength, in fact they have been bad.

And our defense, overall issues which cost us in the playoffs last year are still there, including not getting what we need from role players.

I think the fans this year are actually smart and see the writing on the wall. Stats and wins are nice but this team as constructed probably can't win the cup and lays some stinkers of games far to often. It's no different than fans getting overly excited about Despres when he hasn't been a very responsible player and good in his own end or away front the puck.

dixonyy18 wrote:This team is really in a no win situation with the fans. They are atop the eastern conference for almost half a year, lose a bad game to Philly (a rivalry game that is always fought tough, goes for every sport) or they win 3-4 in a row and then have a bad game and instantly are going no where. We are one of the cup contenders and are missing one of the best players in the game, anyone that says we're going no where because of a bad game is just ridiculous.

So you're saying it's just one game?

They're not going anywhere because they give up too many goals. They'll have some regular season success playing Capitals hockey but they're going to get embarrassed in the playoffs again. The only thing that will change that if somehow they replace Bylsma or somehow Shero makes some miracle moves to find the magic mix of players. They're a mess of a team that can win by outscoring teams because few teams can typically keep up with their offense.

Exactly my point, ridiculous. They give up 2.5 goals a game, ranking 12. You mean this team can't score 3 goals? You must watch only the losses because when they win 3 or 4-1or 2 they look pretty good. But obviously they need to go undefeated to be a good team now.

They aren't 12th in GAA. They came into this one 13th, now are at least 15th. They were not bad in that department before the Philly game but they are unraveling. I am not giving them the benefit of the doubt. Since that debacle they had an ugly 5-3 win over Tampa and now an ugly 6-4 loss to Florida. They're falling right back into what killed them late last season.

I'm a fan that wants more than regular season success. One playoff series victory in the last three years isn't good enough. Don't care if they're still leading the division right now. They're fallen right back to where they were last spring against Philly. They've shown no ability to correct their problems 20 games into this season.

I said earlier in the thread, I don't even care that they lost to Florida. It's the way they're losing, or even winning. I didn't feel great about that win against Tampa. Until they show consistent ability to prevent goals, I have no faith in this team.